Systems and methods for identifying premium content items in a result set

ABSTRACT

The present invention is directed towards systems and methods for identifying premium content items (such as video content items) that are responsive to a query. According to one embodiment, a method for identifying one or more items of video content responsive to a given query comprises receiving a query comprising one or more terms from a given user, identifying one or more items of video content responsive to the received query and generating a result set comprising one or more links to the one or more items of video content responsive to the received query. The one or more links in the result set associated with items of premium video content are identified and the one or more links in the result set associated with items of premium video content are filtered on the basis of information associated with the user from which the query was received.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/641,342, filed Dec. 18, 2006, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material,which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to indexing and searching for items ofvideo content. More specifically, the present invention is directed toindexing one or more items of video content according to one or moreindexing criteria to allow a user to search and display the videocontent responsive to a given query according to the one or morecriteria.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A number of techniques are known to those of skill in the art fordelivering video content to users. Providers of video content maintainthe video content in one or more data stores and maintain structuredinformation that describes the video content. Providers of video contentare limited, however, in that each provider allows users to search onlyover a given provider's library of items of video content, without anyindication of when items unavailable in a given provider's library areavailable from an alternative source. For example, users at theCinemanow.com web site are unable to view video content available atMovielink.com, and vice versa. Additionally, video content providers donot allow users to locate freely available items of video contentavailable on the Internet, either alone or in conjunction withstructured information that providers of video content make availablefor items of video content that they host.

In addition to video content made available for purchase or downloadfrom commercial providers of audio content, users may download videofiles from servers connected to the Internet. For example, a user maynavigate to a given web site that is hosting video content and select agiven item of video content for download to a local data store forplayback. Although the video content and related information madeavailable on servers connected to a network such as the Internet isunstructured, users may employ general search engines, such as Yahoo!Search, to perform keyword searches over content that the search engineindexes to identify items of video content. The search engine returns aresult set comprising one or more links to files that contain the one ormore keywords in the user search, which may, but not necessarily,include links to items of video content. Using a search engine in thismanner, however, fails to search across the universe of structuredinformation regarding items of video content that providers of videocontent maintain. Furthermore, there is no targeting of the result setspecifically to items of video content and related information.

In order to overcome these and other shortcomings and problemsassociated with existing apparatuses and techniques for searching forand retrieving video content, embodiments of the present inventionprovide improved systems and methods for indexing and searching videocontent.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed towards systems and methods foridentifying premium content items (such as video content items) that areresponsive to a query. According to one embodiment, a method foridentifying one or more items of video content responsive to a givenquery comprises receiving a query comprising one or more terms from agiven user, identifying one or more items of video content responsive tothe received query and generating a result set comprising one or morelinks to the one or more items of video content responsive to thereceived query. The one or more links in the result set associated withitems of premium video content are identified and the one or more linksin the result set associated with items of premium video content arefiltered on the basis of information associated with the user from whichthe query was received. Receiving a query may comprises receiving aquery from a user of a client device or an automated software process.

The method of claim 1 wherein identifying one or more items of videocontent responsive to the received query may comprise identifying one ormore items of video content associated with one or more items ofmetadata that match or are similar to the one or more terms comprisingthe query. The one or more items of metadata describe or identify agiven item of video content. A given item of metadata may comprise dataidentifying a content provider associated with a given item of videocontent, data identifying a given item of video content, a title of theitem of video content, a summary of the item of video content, asubscription restriction associated with a given item of video contentand licensing information associated with a given item of video content.

According to embodiments of the invention identifying one or more itemsof video content responsive to the received query comprises identifyingone or more alternative queries related to the received query andidentifying one or more items of video content responsive to the one ormore alternative queries. Responsive video content may comprise premiumvideo content. A given item of premium video content may comprise anitem of video content for which payment is required, an item of videocontent for which a subscription is required, etc. Identifying the oneor more links in the result set may alternatively, or in conjunction,comprise identifying the one or more links to items of video contentassociated with metadata identifying the items of video content aspremium items of video content.

Links to items of premium video content are filtered on the basis ofinformation associated with the user from which the query was received.Filtering according to one embodiment comprises removing the one or morelinks in the result set to items of premium video content on the basisof information associated with the user maintained in a user profile.Information associated with the user may be maintained in a user profileand may comprise an indication of whether the user is associated with asubscription for a given item of premium video content, paymentinformation, etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is illustrated in the figures of the accompanyingdrawings, which are meant to be exemplary and not limiting, in whichlike references are intended to refer to like or corresponding parts,and in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for indexing andsearching video content according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for indexing videocontent according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for searching anddisplaying video content according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for searching anddisplaying premium video content according to one embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating the distribution of paid placementcontent in a result set according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for searching anddisplaying copyrighted video content according to one embodiment of theinvention; and

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for searching anddisplaying location based video content according to one embodiment ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description of embodiments of the invention, referenceis made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof and inwhich is shown by way of illustration a number of specific embodimentsin which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood thatother embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be madewithout departing from the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 presents a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a systemfor indexing one or more items of video content and conducting searchesfor the same. According to the embodiment of FIG. 1, the systemcomprises one or more sources of video content 108 and 110, a searchprovider 102 and a client device 106. A given content source 110 hostsone or more items of video content, a given item of video contentidentifiable by an address, which may be a unique address, e.g., aUniform Resource Locator (“URL”). The search provider 102 indexes videocontent from the one or more sources of video content 108 and 110 andprovides functionality for searching the indexed video content, as wellas routines for filtering the video content in a given responsive resultset according to a number of criteria. A client device 106, is incommunication with the search provider 102 and the one or more contentsources 108 and 110 over a network 104, which may include combination oflocal and wide area networks implemented using a various media, such aswired and wireless technologies, and protocols, e.g., the Internet.

The client device 106 transmits a search query over the network 104 tothe search provider 102, with the search provider providing a result setcomprising one or more links to video content that is responsive to thesearch query. Selection of a link in the result set by the client device106 initiates retrieval of the item of video content that the linkidentifies from a given content source 108 and 110. According to oneembodiment of the invention, a client device 106 is a general-purposepersonal computer comprising a processor, transient and persistentstorage devices, input/output subsystem and bus to provide acommunications path between components comprising the general-purposepersonal computer. For example, a 3.5 GHz Pentium 4 personal computerwith 512 MB of RAM, 40 GB of hard drive storage space and an Ethernetinterface to a network. Other client devices are considered to fallwithin the scope of the present invention including, but not limited to,hand held devices, set top terminals, mobile handsets, etc. The clientdevice 106 typically runs software applications (such as a web browser)that provide for transmission of queries to the search provider 102, aswell as receipt and display of result sets responsive to the queries.

According to one embodiment, the search provider 102 comprises am indexcomponent 112, a submit component 113, a video index data store 114, asearch engine 128 and a filter component 130. Those of skill in the artrecognize that the search provider may utilize more or fewer componentsand data stores, which may be local or remote with regard to a givencomponent or data store and in communication over the network 104. Usingthe network 104, the search provider 102 is capable of accessing contentsources 108 and 110 that host content items a user may wish to locatethrough use of the search engine 128 at the search provider 102. Thesearch provider 102 may communicate with one or more content sources 108and 110 for maintaining cached copies of content items that the contentsources 108 and 110 host. The collection of information regardingcontent items, as well as content items themselves, is referred to as“crawling”, and is the process by which the search provider 102 collectsinformation upon which the search engine 108 performs searches.Exemplary methods for crawling information on a network is described incommonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,409, entitled “METHOD FOR PARSING,INDEXING AND SEARCHING WORLD-WIDE-WEB PAGES,” the disclosure of which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The search provider 102 crawls content sources 108 and 110 incommunication with the network 114, such as the Internet, which maycomprise collecting combinations of content items and informationregarding the same. An index component 104 parses and indexes thecontent items and related information that the search provider 102collects through the crawling process. An index component 112 isoperative to receive information regarding one or more items of videocontent and index the received information for storage according to oneor more data structures 116, 118, 120, 124 and 126 in the video indexdata store 114. The index component 112 generates a video content index116 at the video index data store 114 that defines a structure for theitems of video content and related information 118, 120, 124 and 126that allows for location and retrieval of the content items and relatedinformation.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the index component 104creates a content index of word-location pairs that allows a searchengine 108 to identify specific content items and information regardingthe same in response to a query, which may be from a user, softwarecomponent, automated process, etc. Exemplary methods for indexinginformation is described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,889,entitled “METHOD FOR PARSING INFORMATION OF DATABASE RECORDS USINGWORD-LOCATION PAIRS AND METAWORD-LOCATION PAIRS,” the disclosure ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The indexcomponent 112 writes the one or more indexes 116, 118, 120, 124 and 126to the video index data store 114 for persistent storage and use byother components of the search provider 102.

According to one embodiment, the index component 112 is operative toparse information regarding the one or more items of video contentavailable from the one or more content sources 108 and 110 for storageas one or more indexes at a video index data store 114. The video indexdata store 114 maintains a video content index 116 that identifies linksto items of video content. The video index data store 114 may alsomaintain one or more data structures that are related to the links toitems of video content that the video content index 116 maintains. Aprovider index 118 associates information regarding the provider of anitem of video content with a link to an item of video content in thevideo content index. Provider data in the provider index 118 includes,but is not limited to, pricing information for items of video content,paid placement information for an item of video content, etc. Similarly,the video content data store may maintains other indexes to associateinformation with a given item of video content, such as a location index129 to associate location data, a copyright index 126 to associatecopyright or licensing information and a subscription index 126 toassociate subscription information. It should be recognized by those ofskill in the art that the indexes 116, 118, 120, 124, 126 may beimplemented using one or more data storage techniques, e.g., arelational database comprising tables of related data. It should befurther noted that the video index data store need not maintain separatedata structures and that links to items of video content may be storedin a unified data structure or index with information regarding theitems of video content, e.g., on a per-item of video content basis.

In addition to receiving video content and information regarding thesame for storage and indexing, respectively, the search provider 102 mayimplement a submit component 113 through which a provider of videocontent may provide one or more video feeds that identify video contentat a given content source 108 and 110, as well as information regardingthe same. The submit component receives the feed and parses theinformation for storage at the video index data store 114 in accordancewith one or more data structures 116, 118, 120, 124, 126. The feed maycomprise an item of video content. Alternatively, or in conjunction withthe foregoing, the feed may comprise a link to an item of video content,e.g., a URL. The feed may also comprise information regarding the itemof video content including, but not limited to, information regardingthe provider of the item of video content (e.g., movie studio, etc.),information describing the item of video content (title, summary, castand crew, etc.), information regarding terms and conditions under whichprovider is making the item of video content available (e.g., copyrightor other license controls, payment for viewing, subscriptionrequirements, etc.) and placement information for the item of videocontent. A given feed may identify one or more items of video content.

The search engine 128 at the search provider 102 receives a query from aclient device 106 for identification of items of video content that areresponsive to the query, e.g., fall within the scope of the query. Atypical query has one or more terms. For example, the query “2005Lincoln continental” contains three terms and is referred to as athree-term query. Similarly, a query containing only one term isreferred to as one-term query, a query containing two terms is atwo-term query, etc. A space or other delimiter character that a searchengine 128 at the search provider 102 comprehends delimits individualterms comprising a query.

The search engine 128 utilizes the search terms to identify a result setcomprising items of video content that are responsive to the terms inthe search query, which the search engine 128 passes to a filtercomponent 130. According to one embodiment of the invention, the usermay submit one or more filter criteria to the search engine 128 inaddition to a search query. The filter component 130 receives the filtercriteria in addition to the result set and filters or otherwiserestricts links to items of video content to those items of videocontent that are associated with information that matches the filtercriteria. For example, where the use indicates that the result setshould only include links to items of video content associated withlicense information indicating that derivative works are allowed, thefilter component 130 restricts the result set accordingly. The searchprovider 102 provides a result set that comprises one or more links toitems of video content that are responsive to the search query.Selection of a link in the result set by the client device 106 initiatesretrieval of the item of video content that the link identifies from agiven content source 108 and 110.

The index component 112 at the search provider 102 may receive items ofvideo content for caching and information regarding the same forindexing from submission feeds, as well as by crawling video contentsources 108 and 110 over a network 104. FIG. 2 illustrates oneembodiment of a method for providing video content and informationregarding the same to a search provider for storage and indexing.According to FIG. 2, a provider of video content generates an item ofvideo content for consumption, e.g., playback, by one or more clientdevices, step 202. The provider of video content also generates metadatathat describes the item of video content, step 204. For example, themetadata may comprise information regarding whether the item of videocontent is paid video content, which may be offered at a paid premiumover free items of video content, available on a subscription basis,paid to be placed or ranked at a position in a result set when the itemof video content is responsive to a given query, available according tocertain license terms or conditions, e.g. creative commons limitationson reproduction, derivation and distribution, as well as otherinformation.

The producer of the item of video content generates a feed for the videocontent and metadata, step 206. According to one embodiment, the feedcomprises a given item of video content. Alternatively, or inconjunction with the foregoing, the feed comprises the metadata that theproducer of the item of video content generates to describe the item ofvideo content. Accordingly, the producer of the item of video contenthas flexibility in determining the specific item of content or relatedinformation that the feed comprises. According to one embodiment, thefeed is an MMS feed that provides a transport mechanism for pushing thespecific item of content or related information from a provider of videocontent to the search provider for storage and indexing as isappropriate. The video content provider may also implement the feed asone or more XML files that identify the one or more items video contentand information regarding the same. The system performs a check todetermine is addition items of video content or information regardingthe same are to be included in the feed, step 208. Where the checkevaluates to true, step 208, processing returns to step 202 where theproducer of video content generates a subsequent item of video content.

When the feed is complete, the producer of video content transmits thefeed to the search provider for storage and indexing, step 210. Thesearch provider may also receive information regarding items of videocontent through the crawling process, step 212. Although informationregarding items of video content that the search provider collectsthrough the crawling process is not contained as part of a feed, thesearch provider may parse any available information regarding a crawleditem of video content for processing according to the feed processingtechniques discussed herein. When the search provider receives the feedthat the producer of video content transmits, the search provider parsesthe feed to identify the constituent components of the feed, step 214.According to one embodiment where the feed is an XML file thatidentifies the item of video content and information regarding the same,the XML file is traversed to identify the discrete items of informationcomprising the XML file, e.g., title and author information, pricing,subscription restrictions, placement information, licensing restrictionsand other information regarding.

The system performs a check to determine if the item of video contentthat the feed identifies is a paid item of video content, step 216. Asthe feed may indicate, certain items of video content may be paid itemsof video content such that a user who wishes to retrieve or playback theitem of video content must pay a fee to the provider of the item ofvideo content (or another party who is authorized to collect payment forretrieval and playback of the item of video content). Where the feedidentifies that the item of video content is a paid item of videocontent, step 216, the system indexes an indication that the item ofvideo content is a paid item of video content, step 218, e.g., storingan indication in one or more data structures in the video index datastore.

Where the feed does not indicate that the item of video content is apaid item of video content, step 216, processing continues with theperformance of a check to determine if the item of video content isavailable on a subscription basis, step 220. As the feed may indicate,certain items of video content may be available on a subscription basissuch that the user who is attempting to execute a retrieval or playbackoperation for a given item of video content is prevent from executingthe operation where the user does not have a valid subscription. Forexample, where a provider of video content makes video content availableon a subscription basis, the user must have a software application,digital keys or other valid credentials that identify the user apossessing a valid subscription, which allows retrieval and playback ofthe video content. Users without valid credentials are prevented fromretrieval or playback of the video content, depending on the particularimplementation of the subscription service. Where the feed identifiesthat the item of video content is available on a subscription basis,step 220, the system indexes an indication that the item of videocontent is available on a subscription basis, step 222, e.g., storing anindication in one or more data structures in the video index data store.

Where the feed does not indicate that the item of video content isavailable on a subscription basis, step 220, processing continues withthe performance of a check to determine if the provider of the item ofvideo content has paid for placement of the item of video content, step224. According to embodiments of the present invention, a provider of anitem of video content may pay for placement of the item of video contentin a result set where the item of video content is responsive to a givenquery from a user. According to one embodiment, the provider of an itemof video content may enter an agreement with the search provider to payfor placement of a link to the item of video content at a specificlocation in a result set when the item of video content is responsive toa given query from a user. Alternatively, the provider of an item ofvideo content may enter an agreement with the search provider to pay forinclusion of a link to the item of video content in a result set whenthe item of video content is responsive to a given query from a user.Other embodiments contemplate that the provider of video content mayenter into an agreement with the search provider to pay for inclusion ofa link to the item of video content in the video content index that thesearch provider maintains. Those of skill in the art recognize thatcombinations of the foregoing fall within the scope of the presentinvention. Where the feed identifies that the provider of the item ofvideo content has paid for placement of the item of video content, step224, the system indexes an indication that the item of video content isavailable on a subscription basis, step 226, e.g., storing an indicationin one or more data structures in the video index data store.

Where the feed does not indicate that the provider of the item of videocontent has paid for placement of the item of video content, step 224,processing continues with the performance of a check to determine iflicensing information is available for the item of video content, step228. Licensing information may be any information that provides indiciaregarding the manner in which a user may utilize a given item of videocontent. According to one embodiment of the invention, licensinginformation, also referred to herein as copyright control information,is the creative commons license that identifies how a user may utilize agiven item of video content (use, distribute, make derivative works,etc.) and the conditions under which the user may utilize the item ofvideo content. Those of skill in the art recognize that the provider ofthe item of video content may implement other licensing information,which is contemplated as falling within the scope of the invention.Where the feed identifies that the item of video content has licensinginformation, step 228, the system indexes an indication of the licensinginformation for the item of video content, step 230, e.g., storing anindication in one or more data structures in the video index data store.

Where the feed does not indicate that the item of video content haslicensing information, step 228, processing continues with theperformance of a check to determine if other information is availablefor the item of video content, step 232. Other information in the maycomprise any additional information that describes or indicates anyfeatures of the item of video content. Where the feed identifies otherinformation regarding the item of video content, step 232, the systemindexes an indication of the other information for the item of videocontent, step 234, e.g., storing an indication in one or more datastructures in the video index data store. Where there is no otherinformation to index, step 232, or after the indexing of any availableother information, step 234, the indexing process completes, step 236.

Users who desire to locate available items of video content may issueone or more queries to the search engine at the search provider tosearch the one or more indexes for items of video content that areresponsive to the one or more queries. FIG. 3 presents one embodiment ofa method for utilizing the search engine at the search provider tolocate and retrieve one or more items of video content. The processbegins with the formulation of a query by a user utilizing a clientdevice, step 302. The formulation of the query may also include theformulation of filtering criteria that the search engine uses to filterlinks to items of video content the result set. The user transmits thequery to the search engine at the search provider via a network, step304, which may include the transmission of the query over a combinationof one or more local and wide area networks, e.g., the Internet.

The search engine at the search provider receives the query over thenetwork from the user and uses the query terms to query a video contentindex to identify video content that is responsive to the termscomprising the query from the user, step 306. The search providerperforms a check to determine if links to items of video content existin the video content index that are responsive to the user query, step308. Where items of video content do not exist in the index that areresponsive to the user query, the search provider may perform a check todetermine if alternative queries are available, step 312. According toone embodiment, the search provider attempts to identify one or morealternative queries that are related to the user query. One exemplarytechnique for identifying related queries is described in U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 60/736,133, “MODULAR OPTIMIZEDDYNAMIC SET,” filed on Nov. 9, 2005, the disclosure of which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Where the searchprovider is unable to locate links to items of video content that areresponsive to the user query, step 308, and no alternative queries areavailable (or no links to items of video content exist in the videocontent index that are responsive to any available alternative queries),step 312, the search provider transmits a null result set to the clientfor display to the user, step 314.

Where the check at step 308 evaluates to true, e.g., links to items ofvideo content exist in the index that are responsive to the user query,the search provider retrieves links to items of video content that areresponsive to the user query, step 310. Similarly, where the check atstep 308 evaluates to false but the check at step 312 evaluates to true,e.g., link to items of video content exist in the index that areresponsive to one or more available alternative queries, the searchprovider retrieves links to items of video content that are responsiveto the one or more alternative queries, step 316. Program flow continueswith the search provider filtering the result set in accordance with theinformation regarding a given item of video content and any filtercriteria that the user provides, step 318. For example, where the userprovides filtering criteria with a given query that indicates that theresult set is to exclude an paid content, the search provider utilizesthe information regarding the links to items of video content in theresult set to identify any links to paid items of video content, whichit filters or otherwise removes from the result set. Where the user doesnot provide any filtering criteria, the search provider transmits theresult set to the client for display to the user, step 320.

The client device receives the result set comprising links to one ormore items of video content for display to the user and awaits a userinteraction with filtering controls or items in the result set. Theclient device performs a check to determine if the user submits a filtercommand to filter the items in the result set, step 322. For example,the user may determine upon review of links to items of video content inthe result set that he or she is only interested in freely availableitems of video content. Accordingly, a user interface that the clientdevice presents provides an option to restrict the links in the resultset to only those links that are for freely available items of videocontent, which causes the client to filter out a given item of videocontent from the result set where information regarding the given itemof video content identifies the item as a paid item of video content.Alternatively, the client may pass the command back to the searchprovider to apply the filter and retransmit the filtered result set tothe client device.

Where the user does not issue a filter command, step 322, the clientdevice performs a check to determine if the user selects a link to anitem of video content from the result set, step 324. Where the userselects a link, step 325, the client device communicates with thecontent source that hosts the item of video content that the userselects for retrieval, step 326. If the user does not issue a command tofilter the links to items of video content in the result set, step 322,and does not select a link to an item of video content in the resultset, step 324, the system enters a wait state, step 328. Checks areperiodically performed to determine if the use issues a filter commandor selects a link to an item of video content in the result set to takeappropriate action.

As discussed above, the user may limit the links to items of videocontent in a result set to links to paid video content, also referred toas premium content. FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of a method forretrieving links to items of premium video content. The method beginswith the user formulating a query, which may be at the client device,for transmission to the search provider, step 402. The search providerreceives the query from the user, which it parses to determine the termsthat comprise the query, step 404, and identifies links to items ofvideo content in a video content index that are responsive to the query,step 406.

A link to a given item of video content is associated with or related toone or more pieces of additional information. According to oneembodiment, a link to an item of video content is associated withpricing information for the item of video content that the linkidentifies, e.g., items of premium video content. The system performs acheck to determine if the result set comprises one or more links topremium video content items, step 408. The check may include retrievalof information identifying whether the item of video content requirespayment, as well as payment terms and mechanisms. Where the result setdoes not comprise one or more links to premium video content items, thesearch provider transmits the result set to the client device fordisplay to the user, step 410.

If the result set comprises one or more links to items of premium videocontent, step 408, the system performs a check to determine if the useris allowed to retrieve the one or more items of premium video content,step 412. For example, the provider of an item of premium video contentmay require that a user become a member of a video content distributionservice to retrieve the item of premium video content. According to oneembodiment, the check is performed for each link to an item of premiumvideo content in a given result set, thereby allowing the user to viewlinks to items of responsive video content to which the user hassufficient retrieval rights. Those of skill in the art recognize anumber of mechanisms that the system may employ to determine if a userhas sufficient rights to a given item of premium video content, step412, for example, by examining a user profile in view of informationidentifying whether the item of video content requires payment, as wellas payment terms and mechanisms.

Where the check at step 412 evaluates to false, the system performs acheck to determine if the result set should include links to the itemsof premium video content, step 414. Where the check evaluates to false,the search provider transmits the result set to the client device fordisplay to the user that does not include links to items of premiumvideo content and comprises only links to free video content, step 410.Where the check at either step 412 or step 414 evaluate to true, thesystem prepares a result set that comprises links to items of premiumvideo content and links to items of free video content, step 416. Thesearch provider transmits the result set to the client device fordisplay to the user, step 418. As discussed in connection with FIG. 3,the client device may provide controls (which may be transmitted to theclient by the search provider with or without the result set) toselectively display combinations of free and premium content.

The search provider may index a given link to an item of video contentin conjunction with paid placement information. According to oneembodiment, payment only ensures that a link to a given item of videocontent appears in the video content index. Alternatively, the indexedpayment information indicates the position at which a link to a givenitem of video content is to appear when the given item of video contentis responsive to a user query. FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of amethod for the paid placement of video content items in a result set.The method begins with the search provider receiving a query from theuser, step 502, which it parses to determine the terms that comprise thequery and identifies links to items of video content in a video contentindex that are responsive to the query, step 504.

The search provider parses the result set to determine if the result setcomprises links to items of video content for which the provider of theitem of video content has paid for placement at a given position in theresult set, step 506. Where the check evaluates to false, the searchprovider transmits the result set to the client device for display tothe user, step 508. The result set may be ordered or ranked accordingtechniques known to those of skill in the art, e.g., according to therelevance of the items of video content in the result set to the termsof the user query.

Where the result set comprises links to items of video content for whichthe provider of the item of video content has paid for placement at agiven position in the result set, step 506, the search provider placesthe items of video content at a proper location or rank in the resultset to form a reordered result set, step 510. For example, where aprovider of an item of video content pays for placement of a given itemof video content at position two in a result set, the search providerreorders the result set such that the given item of video contentappears at position two in a result set where the item of video contentis responsive to a user query. The search provider transmits thereordered result set to the client device from which the query wasreceived for display to the user, step 512.

In addition to the foregoing, the user may limit the links to items ofvideo content in a result set to those links that satisfy certainlicensing or copyright criteria that the user provides. FIG. 6illustrates one embodiment of a method for retrieving and providinglinks to items of video content that satisfy certain licensing ofcopyright criteria. The method begins with the search provider receivinga query from the user, step 602, which it parses to determine the termsthat comprise the query and identifies links to items of video contentin a video content index that are responsive to the query, step 604. Thesystem performs a check to determine if the result set comprises linksto items of video content indexed in accordance with licensing orcopyright information, step 606.

Where the result set does not comprise links to items of video contentindexed in accordance with licensing or copyright information, thesearch provider transmits the result set to the client device fordisplay to a user, step 608. If the check at step 606 evaluates to true,the system performs a check to determine if licensing or copyrightcriteria is present with the user query, step 610. According to oneembodiment, a user may provide the one or more copyright or licensingcriteria to the search provider separate from the query. Where nocriteria are present, the search provider transmits the result set tothe client device for display to the user, step 608. If, however, thecheck at step 610 evaluates to true, the system filters the links in theresult set to include links where the licensing or copyright informationmatches one or more copyright or licensing criteria, step 612. Thesystem transmits the filtered result set to the client device fordisplay to the user, step 614.

Similar to other criteria over which a user may search and view items ofvideo content, the user may limit the links to items of video content ina result set to those links that satisfy certain location information.FIG. 7 illustrates one embodiment of a method for retrieving andproviding links to items of video content that satisfy certain locationcriteria. The method begins with the search provider receiving a queryfrom the user, step 602, which it parses to determine the terms thatcomprise the query and identifies links to items of video content in avideo content index that are responsive to the query, step 604. Thesystem performs a check to determine if the result set comprises linksto items of video content indexed in accordance with locationinformation, step 606.

Where the result set does not comprise links to items of video contentindexed in accordance with location information, the search providertransmits the result set to the client device for display to a user,step 608. If the check at step 606 evaluates to true, the systemperforms a check to determine if location criteria is present with theuser query, step 610. According to one embodiment, a user may providethe one or more copyright or licensing criteria to the search providerseparate from the query. Where no criteria are present, the searchprovider transmits the result set to the client device for display tothe user, step 608. If, however, the check at step 610 evaluates totrue, the system filters the links in the result set to include linkswhere the location information matches the location criteria that theuser provides, step 612. The system transmits the filtered result set tothe client device for display to the user, step 614.

FIGS. 1-7 are conceptual illustrations allowing for an explanation ofthe present invention. It should be understood that various aspects ofthe embodiments of the present invention could be implemented inhardware, firmware, software, or a combinations thereof. In suchembodiments, the various components and/or steps would be implemented inhardware, firmware, and/or software to perform the functions of thepresent invention. That is, the same piece of hardware, firmware, ormodule of software could perform one or more of the illustrated blocks(e.g., components or steps).

In software implementations, computer software (e.g., programs or otherinstructions) and/or data is stored on a machine readable medium as partof a computer program product, and is loaded into a computer system orother device or machine via a removable storage drive, hard drive, orcommunications interface. Computer programs (also called computercontrol logic or computer readable program code) are stored in a mainand/or secondary memory, and executed by one or more processors(controllers, or the like) to cause the one or more processors toperform the functions of the invention as described herein. In thisdocument, the terms “machine readable medium,” “computer program medium”and “computer usable medium” are used to generally refer to media suchas a random access memory (RAM); a read only memory (ROM); a removablestorage unit (e.g., a magnetic or optical disc, flash memory device, orthe like); a hard disk; electronic, electromagnetic, optical,acoustical, or other form of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves,infrared signals, digital signals, etc.); or the like.

Notably, the figures and examples above are not meant to limit the scopeof the present invention to a single embodiment, as other embodimentsare possible by way of interchange of some or all of the described orillustrated elements. Moreover, where certain elements of the presentinvention can be partially or fully implemented using known components,only those portions of such known components that are necessary for anunderstanding of the present invention are described, and detaileddescriptions of other portions of such known components are omitted soas not to obscure the invention. In the present specification, anembodiment showing a singular component should not necessarily belimited to other embodiments including a plurality of the samecomponent, and vice-versa, unless explicitly stated otherwise herein.Moreover, applicants do not intend for any term in the specification orclaims to be ascribed an uncommon or special meaning unless explicitlyset forth as such. Further, the present invention encompasses presentand future known equivalents to the known components referred to hereinby way of illustration.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fullyreveal the general nature of the invention that others can, by applyingknowledge within the skill of the relevant art(s) (including thecontents of the documents cited and incorporated by reference herein),readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specificembodiments, without undue experimentation, without departing from thegeneral concept of the present invention. Such adaptations andmodifications are therefore intended to be within the meaning and rangeof equivalents of the disclosed embodiments, based on the teaching andguidance presented herein. It is to be understood that the phraseologyor terminology herein is for the purpose of description and not oflimitation, such that the terminology or phraseology of the presentspecification is to be interpreted by the skilled artisan in light ofthe teachings and guidance presented herein, in combination with theknowledge of one skilled in the relevant art(s).

While various embodiments of the present invention have been describedabove, it should be understood that they have been presented by way ofexample, and not limitation. It would be apparent to one skilled in therelevant art(s) that various changes in form and detail could be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Thus, the present invention should not be limited by any of theabove-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only inaccordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

1. A system for identifying one or more items of video contentresponsive to a given query, the system comprising at least oneprocessor and memory with computer code stored thereon that whenexecuted by the processor cause the processor to perform a methodcomprising: receiving a query comprising one or more terms from a givenuser of a client device coupled to the processor over a network;identifying one or more alternative queries related to the receivedquery, wherein the one or more alternative queries are generated using aquery-candidate pair model based upon logs of user web accesses, whereina web access comprises a web search, user identifier, and timestamp;identifying one or more items of video content responsive to thereceived query and to the one or more alternative queries; generating aresult set comprising one or more links to the one or more items ofvideo content responsive to the received query; identifying the one ormore links in the result set associated with items of premium videocontent; filtering the one or more links in the result set associatedwith items of premium video content on the basis of informationassociated with the user from which the query was received that ismaintained in a user profile, wherein the filtering includes placing alink associated with one of the items of premium video content in a paidposition in the result set based on metadata associated therewith, themetadata indicating a position paid for by the content provider, theposition in the result set based on the one or more terms in the queryreceived from the given user; and identifying one or more given items ofpremium video content the user is unable to access associated with theone or more links identified in the result set, the one or more givenitems of premium video content are identified along with the one or morelinks in the result set.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein identifyingone or more items of video content responsive to the received querycomprises identifying one or more items of video content associated withone or more items of metadata that match or are similar to the one ormore terms comprising the query.
 3. The system of claim 2 wherein agiven item of metadata comprises data identifying a content providerassociated with a given item of video content.
 4. The system of claim 2wherein a given item of metadata comprises data identifying a given itemof video content.
 5. The system of claim 4 wherein data identifying thegiven item of video content comprises at least one of: a title of theitem of video content and a summary of the item of video content.
 6. Thesystem of claim 2 wherein a given item of metadata comprises at leastone of: data identifying a subscription restriction associated with agiven item of video content and data identifying licensing informationassociated with a given item of video content.
 7. The system of claim 1wherein generating a result set comprises retrieving one or more linksto the one or more items of video content and associated metadataresponsive to the received query.
 8. The system of claim 1 wherein agiven item of premium video content comprises at least one of: an itemof video content for which payment is required and an item of videocontent for which a subscription is required.
 9. The system of claim 1wherein identifying the one or more links in the result set comprisesidentifying the one or more links to items of video content associatedwith metadata identifying the items of video content as premium items ofvideo content.
 10. The system of claim 1 wherein information associatedwith the user maintained in a user profile comprises at least one of: anindication of whether the user is associated with a subscription for agiven item of premium video content and payment information.
 11. Anon-transitory computer readable medium having computer code storedthereon that when executed by at least one processor causes the at leastone processor to perform a method for identifying one or more items ofvideo content responsive to a given query comprising: receiving a querycomprising one or more terms from a given user of a client devicecoupled to the processor over a network; identifying one or morealternative queries related to the received query, wherein the one ormore alternative queries are generated using a query-candidate pairmodel based upon logs of user web accesses, wherein a web accesscomprises a web search, user identifier, and timestamp; identifying oneor more items of video content responsive to the received query and tothe one or more alternative queries; generating a result set comprisingone or more links to the one or more items of video content responsiveto the received query; identifying the one or more links in the resultset associated with items of premium video content; filtering the one ormore links in the result set associated with items of premium videocontent on the basis of information associated with the user from whichthe query was received that is maintained in a user profile, wherein thefiltering includes placing a link associated with one of the items ofpremium video content in a paid position in the result set based onmetadata associated therewith, the metadata indicating a position paidfor by the content provider, the position in the result set based on theone or more terms in the query received from the given user; andidentifying one or more given items of premium video content the user isunable to access associated with the one or more links identified in theresult set, the one or more given items of premium video content areidentified along with the one or more links in the result set.
 12. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 11 wherein identifying one or moreitems of video content responsive to the received query comprisesidentifying one or more items of video content associated with one ormore items of metadata that match or are similar to the one or moreterms comprising the query.
 13. The computer readable medium of claim 12wherein a given item of metadata comprises data identifying a contentprovider associated with a given item of video content.
 14. The computerreadable medium of claim 12 wherein a given item of metadata comprisesdata identifying a given item of video content.
 15. The computerreadable medium of claim 14 wherein data identifying the given item ofvideo content comprises at least one of: a title of the item of videocontent and a summary of the item of video content.
 16. The computerreadable medium of claim 12 wherein a given item of metadata comprisesat least one of: data identifying a subscription restriction associatedwith a given item of video content and data identifying licensinginformation associated with a given item of video content.
 17. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 11 wherein generating a result setcomprises retrieving one or more links to the one or more items of videocontent and associated metadata responsive to the received query. 18.The computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein a given item of premiumvideo content comprises at least one of: an item of video content forwhich payment is required and an item of video content for which asubscription is required.
 19. The computer readable medium of claim 11wherein identifying the one or more links in the result set comprisesidentifying the one or more links to items of video content associatedwith metadata identifying the items of video content as premium items ofvideo content.
 20. The computer readable medium of claim 11 whereininformation associated with the user maintained in a user profilecomprises at least one of: an indication of whether the user isassociated with a subscription for a given item of premium video contentand payment information.